Monday, 30 June 2014

A story is more than
stuff that happens to a person. And yet, if a friend were to tell you something
that happened to them at work or at school or wherever, you wouldn’t be
uninterested.

In fact, if it was
something amusing or surprising or touching in some way, it might even be quite
compelling. This incident might involve coincidence, luck, randomness and have no
real conclusion, but that won’t necessarily stop you hanging on every word.

However, put that
same story down in print, and it doesn’t have quite the same effect. Now it’s
contrived and pointless and banal.

Why? What makes
fiction—whether it be a short story or a novel—different from real life? And
how can we use this difference to help create more engaging and entertaining
stories?

Monday, 23 June 2014

No story is full of
high drama all the time. Sometimes you’re setting things up or dealing with the
aftermath of some event, and the characters are on their own or in a
non-volatile situation.

Introducing a
problem or a struggle at this point, even a small one, often helps to keep the
narrative interesting, but there are times when you don’t want your character
to be fighting battles or solving puzzles.

So how do you turn a
mundane moment into something more gripping without resorting to enemies to
battle or mountains to climb?

Monday, 16 June 2014

A story with high
stakes and deadly dangers can still bore you to tears. Equally, a character
folding laundry while contemplating life’s absurdities can be deeply moving and
affecting.

While there’s
probably more to work with if your story is about an exploding volcano than
creased shirts and an ironing board, the fact that neither subject-matter
guarantees how the story will be received demonstrates that whatever it is that
draws readers into a tale, it isn’t just a matter of sticking a character in a
perilous situation and seeing how they cope.

So what is it that
grabs a reader and keeps them engaged through many hundreds of pages?

Monday, 9 June 2014

Throughout a story
there will be moments where the central character will do things that are
interesting, exciting, scary or whatever. These kinds of scenes where key events
occur are what you build towards, and their aftermath will provide the
momentum/motivation to keep the reader turning pages to get to the next one, and
the one after that.

But even though the
chase, the rescue, the attack on the enemy base, will be an entertaining
set-piece, there is another, equally important, part of this moment: the
decision to do it.

Every big scene will
be preceded by the character having to choose to engage with whatever scenario
they’re faced with. This choice is incredibly important, both to the character
and to the reader.

Monday, 2 June 2014

The worst thing a
story can be is boring. A dull tale, whatever the genre, whatever the length,
will be a hard sell no matter how well written.

The most common advice
for making a story more interesting is to increase the conflict.

More problems, sharper
tension, higher stakes. The harder you make life for you main character, the
greater the interest in how they’re going to reach their goal.

This isn’t
particularly revolutionary information. Both as readers and as people we know
that the most interesting stories are the ones where people face the greatest
adversities, so it stands to reason that the tougher you make things the better.

However, while it’s
pretty clear more conflict is a good idea, it isn’t always obvious how you go
about this. If you just throw everything you can think of at the protagonist it
can feel unrealistic and melodramatic. Random events overwhelming a character
can also overwhelm the story and shift the tone in a direction you might not
have intended. So how do you make life worse for your protagonist in an organic
manner?